Trump Defends Dismissal of Dozen Federal Inspectors General

President Donald Trump defended his firing of at least a dozen inspectors general at federal agencies, a sudden late-night purge of independent officials assigned to root out mismanagement and illegal acts in the US government.

“It’s a very common thing to do,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he returned to Florida following a tour of disaster areas and a Las Vegas rally.

Firing inspectors general is in fact not common and the law requires that Congress be given 30 days’ notice and detailed reasons for the dismissals. Their terms aren’t synchronized to presidential election cycles so they ...